The Myanmar military regime has detained Serge Pun, one of its most prominent crony tycoons, since last month along with some senior executives of his Yoma Bank and Yoma Strategic Holdings Ltd., according to multiple sources close to his businesses and family.
Sources said he remains under house arrest in Naypyitaw and that he and the other company officials continue to be interrogated.
They are accused of violating financial regulations by providing mortgages through his bank to Myanmar nationals buying condos in Thailand, and by offering total housing loans worth more than is allowed by the Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM).
It is the second time the 71-year-old has been questioned by the regime. In early June he was interrogated for providing mortgages to buy condos in Thailand. He was released after a few days but “he was in bad shape,” according to a source close to the family.
Serge Pun, also known as U Theim Wai, chairs the conglomerate Yoma Group, which has interests in a wide range of sectors—financial, hotels and tourism, real estate, trade, and food and beverage—through its two main units: Singapore-listed Yoma Strategic Holdings Co. Ltd. and Yangon-listed First Myanmar Investment Co. Ltd. (FMI). Yoma Strategic Holdings is also the franchise holder for KFC in Myanmar.
He faced a public backlash in July 2023 after a video clip was leaked in which he says he felt reassured that Myanmar’s ongoing anti-regime armed resistance groups were not fighting in Naypyitaw, and that he believed they have no plan to do so. His comments were widely seen as reflecting the views of owners of conglomerates who cooperate with the junta; they have faced widespread contempt because it is believed they want to see the regime keep control of urban areas and Naypyitaw, the capital, where their business interests are focused.
It was not the first time he had faced public ire. Serge Pun drew scorn in November 2022 when the junta bestowed upon him the title Thiri Pyanchi for “outstanding contributions to the Union of Myanmar”.
On Wednesday, Yoma Strategic Holdings said Serge Pun was cooperating with authorities in Naypyitaw on bank business matters. “There are no charges filed against him,” said Melvyn Pun, Yoma CEO and one of Serge Pun’s sons.
A foreign businessman close to Serge Pun’s family told The Irrawaddy that the Yoma executive chairman was in custody and still being interrogated.
“We heard the he also suffered [a problem due to] his heart disease and had to be treated at a hospital in Naypyitaw,” he said last week.
“Now I’m told Serge is still held but it was Melvyn Pun who left the country for Singapore on Friday,” he said Tuesday.
A source close to some directors at First Myanmar Investment (FMI), a Yangon Stock Exchange-listed public company limited chaired by Serge Pun, also confirmed on Tuesday that the tycoon and some of his executives remain in detention in Naypyitaw and are still being interrogated.
Serge Pun’s detention was further confirmed by a local businessman who is an executive member of an affiliated association under the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI).
“We heard that the regime has targeted him for providing housing loans to buy condos in Thailand through his Yoma Bank. And the interrogation is mainly about that,” he said.
Yoma Strategic Holdings released a press statement in early June denying involvement in providing mortgages to Myanmar nationals to buy condos in Thailand.
In addition to that allegation, Yoma Bank is among seven private banks that faced administrative action early this month for exceeding the CBM’s limit on the total value of housing loans they can provide.
Shares in Yoma Strategic Holdings fell nearly 17 percent in Singapore on Wednesday after the company issued a statement saying its executive chairman was “cooperating with the junta in Naypyitaw”, Reuters reported.
